Brickell is unconventional, so calling this a comeback record doesn't work.

She lives in New York, is married to the legendary Paul Simon and is the mother of their three children. In recent years, she's participated in album projects with Simon's son, Harper, the Yarns and her old Dallas-based band the New Bohemians.

Sexton calls her talents "mind-boggling." Brickell considers him "like a brother." Sexton says he's always floored by her gift for making up lyrics to her melodies on the spot .

"Really, it's just expressing what it is you hear, just trusting and letting the words come," said Brickell. That's too modest for Sexton, who also produced her CD Volcano.

"The melodic sense she brings, even before the words, is stunning," said Sexton.

Why he got involved is simple: "She's one of the best human beings I've ever met. Her voice is like a light. It just makes people feel good."

Brickell indeed uses her supple, breathy vocals and jazzlike range here to maximum effect. Each song gets a refreshingly different touch with its own mood, feel and tone.

"I think it's really important to do that as a singer," explained Brickell, who often sings while piddling around the house and changes them up.

"Otherwise, I get very bored with a record where the voice always sounds the same. You want the voice to express the lyric or the melody in the best way that suits the song.

"If you're true to how you feel, then it should be right. If you're trying to sing it right, then forget it."

There are moments, such as on the remarkable 2 O'Clock, where she conjures Dusty Springfield.

The Gaddabouts' project began in early 2001. Its groove is somewhat more relaxed, laid-back and countrified than her new solo pop record, which is often driven by piano. "Steve Gadd is the most laid-back guy in the world," she said. "He's the king of it. With the other band, it's just a greater pop sensibility, I guess."

Unlike her legendary husband, who will torture over a song and obsessively dissect its chord structure and melody lines, Brickell is more spontaneous.

Wisely, they stay out of each other's space in the "spiritual process" of writing songs. Brickell is all about feel.

"Mine is pure instinct and feel, and I just trust what I'm hearing and what I feel," she said. "I don't think about what key it's in or where it should go, just where it wants to go. It can't be predictable."

That unpredictable, often confessional style will inform the songwriter months, even years, later.

"Oh, now I see what I meant," said Brickell with a really big laugh about what her lyrics mean. "When you trust your subconscious to sing with a stream of consciousness ... you wonder: 'Where did they come from?' and 'What do they mean?' "

Sometimes it can be something as simple as the weather affecting her mood. Give It Another Day is a bouncy, quasi- Pet Sounds track, written while on a tropical holiday. "I'm just excited to having something that's buoyant," she said. "I miss the Texas sun."

Her personal favorite on the solo disc is Always. There's a R&B groove to Been So Good. Paul Simon loves Pill. The Gaddabouts' They Say Everything revels in its '50s jazz pop progression.

All of the tracks were essentially cut live, with the musicians in the room. The inspiration comes from her love of early Duke Ellington and Andrew Sisters records.

"I like those records that were recorded live, where people could really play, and you could feel that energy in the room. That's what we were trying to get out with both these records."

She also aimed to get away from her habit of penning melancholy songs.

"Why? Life is good. I'm in a good place. Why do I write sad songs? What's going on?" she said.

"I realized it takes about 10, 15 years for your creative life to catch up to real time. I had a lot of sad emotional habits from being young and being sad."

That's not how she wants to be. These days it's all about "making your dreams come true within yourself and externally."

"Do you want to be a grumpy or sad, melancholy person around your kids? Hell, no! You leave all that to the lonely artist that you were before. I want to make life better."

Simon hasn't heard all the tracks ("I'll give him the records in a couple of days," she said), and Brickell won't tour behind the albums. One-off gigs aren't out of the question.

Brickell plays Radio City Music Hall, opening for Iron & Wine on Saturday, and she plays the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival later this year.